Discover Your Food Sensitivities
Do you feel like you are sensitive or reactive to some foods?
I’m not talking about a true food allergy that requires immediate medical attention like a peanut or shellfish allergy, but more of a delayed reaction such as:
bloating
gassiness
stomach pain
nausea
itching
sneezing
rapid heart rate
swelling
joint pain
sleepiness
headache
This is not a normal response to food, so if you are experiencing any of these, it likely means you have a food sensitivity.
So what’s the best way to find out which foods you’re negatively reacting to?
The answer is to test for it.
Before we get into the details of that, let’s cover some basic information on what constitutes a food sensitivity. There are 2 types of food sensitivities- one that engages the immune system and one that doesn't.
The type that doesn’t involve the immune system can be called a “food intolerance.” This occurs when there is an enzyme deficiency that makes it difficult for the body to break down that particular food. For example, someone with a lactose intolerance lacks the enzyme to properly break down the lactose in dairy.
Then there are the food reactions that do engage the immune system. When the immune system sees a food as an invader it releases various white blood cells called mediators to attack it. This can lead to inflammation, symptoms like the ones listed earlier, and conditions such as IBS/IBD, migraines, fibromyalgia, skin conditions, autism, asthma, ADHD/ADD, arthritis, and more.
Your immune system creates antibodies called immunoglobulins as part of its response process. There are several types of immunoglobulins-IgA, IgG, IgM, and IgE.
The most common test for food sensitivities is one that measures the IgG response and it’s the one you’ve likely come across if you’ve looked into food sensitivity testing before. These tests include the ELISA, RAST, or some home testing kits you can purchase online.
The flaw with this type of testing is that it only measures the IgG response, yet there are several types of immunoglobulin responses that are involved in food sensitivities. This means there’s a lot that can be missed.
Research has shown that these tests aren’t completely accurate and aren’t a good indicator of whether these sensitivities actually cause inflammation in the body. Plus, you need to ingest any food that is being tested within the 21 days prior to the test, otherwise it can’t detect it.
As a functional nutrition practitioner, I am always focused on helping my clients reduce inflammation as an essential part of their healing process. Part of that process includes creating an anti-inflammatory diet and the best way to do that for each individual person is to know exactly what foods are causing inflammation in their bodies.
So, what good is a food sensitivities test that doesn’t really measure inflammation and will miss a ton of food sensitivities that might be present?
Not very good at all!
This is where the MRT food sensitivities test comes in. Instead of measuring a single pathway like the IgG test, it measures the inflammatory response these foods cause in the body. It does this by measuring those inflammatory white blood cell mediators that we discussed earlier. By doing this, we are measuring the end result-inflammation-and it accounts for ALL types of immune-related food sensitivities, instead of just one.
The MRT measures over 170 different foods and can also detect sensitivities to foods you may not have eaten in several months, years, or ever. It will show you the reactivity of each food on a sliding scale from not reactive to most reactive and categorize those foods into green, yellow, and red. Each of these categories is treated differently when it comes to the dietary plan we put together based on each person’s results.
Now, many people can fall into the trap of investing in a food sensitivity test, cutting out the offending foods, and not seeing much change in their digestive symptoms. That’s because it’s only one piece of the puzzle. It’s an important piece, but to truly make progress with your digestive and gut health symptoms, it takes a well-rounded protocol.
That is why I only recommend a food sensitivities test when paired with a GI-MAP stool test. The stool test provides us with the information about potential pathogens, digestive capacity, inflammation markers, healthy bacteria levels, and overgrowths.
We need this information to build a highly personalized protocol for each person so they can see real results. And while we do this, we need to cut out those offending, inflammatory foods to give our bodies the best chance for healing.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of food sensitivities, it is always a part of a bigger gut health picture. It’s linked to leaky gut and a likely bacterial imbalance in your gut, which both need to be addressed in order for you to feel good again!
Are you wondering if the MRT food sensitivities test is right for you? Book a 20 minute complimentary consultation with me to find out more!